City of Ink

City of Ink is the third book in the Li Du mystery series set in eighteenth century China.  In this installment of the series former imperial librarian Li Du is back in Beijing from exile.  He is working as the assistant to the chief inspector of the North Borough Office of Beijing's Outer City.

There are many new men in the city preparing to take exams for potential government positions when the wife of the owner of The Black Tile Factory and a man, who appears to be her lover, are found dead in the administrative office of the factory one morning. Li Du and his boss, Chief Inspector Sun, begin an investigation into their murders.

The murdered bodies were found on page 12 which meant that most of the book could be devoted to finding the killer.  I think that is important in a mystery.  I hate it when the crime doesn't occur until a third of the way into a book.

The author used setting descriptions to maintain the historical features of the novel but kept the dialogue mostly contemporary for a quicker read.  Some of the dialogue referred to a historical past but it was still contemporary. The reader certainly was able to get the feel of being in imperial China which showed the author's knowledge of the location and era.

City of Ink was much better than the second book in the series, The White Mirror. I think the reason is that City of Ink took place in Beijing and White Mirror took place while Li Du was on the road. In the first book in the series, Jade Dragon Mountain, Li Du was on his way out of Beijing into exile but there was alot of back story taking place there.  I think Beijing is the best setting for this series since the hero is, after all, a librarian. Li Du seems to be more in his element here.

City of Ink is a great whodunnit. I highly recommend it and give it 5 out of 5 stars!